This is original version of interview with Mr. Tim Powers, which was
translated in steampunk issue of Slovak SF magazine Jupiter.
* I want start in early 80´s. Authors K.W.Jeter, James Blaylock and you
were starting to write first modern steampunk works. Was there some common
inspiration or each of you just wanted to write SF about Victorian England?
All three of us were
inclined that way, being big fans of Dickens, Stevenson, and Arthur Conan Doyle
-- and then Jeter found a couple of books called Mayhew's London and London's
Underworld, both by a 19th century sociologist (I guess you'd call him) named
Henry Mayhew. Mayhew chronicled the poor sections of 19th century London
practically street by street, noting all the details about the day-to-day lives of beggars,
costermongers, letter-writers, thieves, brewers, sailors, prostitutes -- all
the research any writer would need! And Jeter showed the books to Blaylock and
I, and pretty soon all three of us were mining them for story settings.
* Did you was personally influenced by H. G. Wells or Jules Verne?
Not very much. I read them
both as a teenager, but my genre roots are more Lovecraft and Fritz Leiber -- I
like that tone of dark alleys and mysterious rivers flowing under bridges by
moonlight and cellars with God-knows-what sort of ancient creatures living in
them!
* Your most known work is the novell “The Anubis Gates”. It was hit even
here, long time before another steampunk work transleted. During the writing
did you feel that it will be such influential work?
No, I never imagined that
The Anubis Gates would still be in print even five years after it was
published! It was rejected by a number of publishers before Beth Meacham at Ace
Books decided to try it out. I'm extraordinarily pleased that it is still in
print today, and has been translated into so many other languages! And I read
it again recently, and I've got to say I'm still very pleased with it!
* Steampunk is generally science fiction in it´s heart. “The Anubis Gates”
has lot of magic and can be count as fantasy, maybe historical fantasy. Do you
think that steampunk is much larger subgenre as just SF in victorian England?
Steampunk certainly seems
to be a bigger and bigger umbrella, yes. As you note, The Anubis Gates was
fantasy, not really science fiction at all, and lately there have been
steampunk novels set in the Middle East, and the American West! I guess it just
needs a sort of 19th century-style society -- and a lot of weird business going
on -- to qualify.
* In nineties there were few steampunk works (Difference Engine, Fillipo´s
“The Steampunk Trilogy”) and few works with certain elements of the genre
(“Diamond Age” is most important). Cyberpunk was much more known, even with end
of the Movement. Why it was that steampunk was not such strong in public?
I don't know! Steampunk is
a very retrospective genre -- looking backward, always with a bit of nostalgia
even when the look is critical -- so maybe it stems from a dissatisfaction with
the baffling freedoms and unexpected restrictions of the modern world.
* Do you think that was there ever some steampunk Movement?
There may be lately, at
least in science fiction fandom -- certainly there are whole steampunk
conventions now, and the fascination is with costume and jewellery and movies
at least as much as it's with books.
* What do you think about steampunk today? There are steampunk
conventions, steampunk clubs, steampunk music, even steampunk anime... It goes
even out of SF community, with steampunk episode of TV show Castle or
steampunkish Sherlock Homes movies, for example. It is this what you wanted to
create in 80´s?
It would never have
occurred to Jeter, Blaylock and I that we were creating anything, aside from
some science fiction and fantasy adventure novels. But I think we're all very
gratified that the books we wrote then are considered to be core examples of
... something!
* Few words about politics and punkism in this culture. The site tor.com
during it´s steampunk month in 2009 declared steampunk as punk in his core,
with logical anti-elitism. Do you think that it´s so anarchic and left-winged?
No, I don't think steampunk
has any sort of organized philosophy or political stance. No doubt many people
in the steampunk subculture do try to mix social or political goals into it,
but I don't think they're at all representative of whatever steampunk is.
Certainly I never had any social or political points to make in The Anubis
Gates (or any of my books, actually.)
* Back to literature. There are tendencies to define not only Wells and
Verne, but even Poe as steampunk writer.
Everything with touch of 19´s is defined as work of this genre, and there are
new subganres produced, such as dieselpunk, atompunk and teslapunk. Do you agree with such tendencies?
Sure! Spread the nets as
widely as possible! I'd like to see such a vast variety of "steampunk"
stories -- and claimed ancestors of the form -- that in the end it will all
break right out of any particular definition, and just be a lot of great
science fiction and fantasy stories.
* What are you writing now? Please don´t understand this bad, but were yor
works from last years influenced with all this “new” steampunk phenomenon?
No, actually my last novel
was prompted by reading about some weird anomalies in the lives of Dante
Gabriel Rossetti and his sister Christina -- but it does take place in 19th
century London, so if people want to call it steampunk, that's fine with me!
And the book I'm currently working on is set now, in Hollywood, so any
steampunk elements are going to be ... hard to detect!
* Many thanks for this interview.
Questions: Martin Kralik
Žiadne komentáre:
Zverejnenie komentára